ALPHA PSYCHIATRY
Original Articles

The effect of brain derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism upon alcohol dependence tendency in Turkish alcohol dependents

Alpha Psychiatry 2013; 14: 1-9
DOI: 10.5455/apd.34461
Read: 931 Downloads: 627 Published: 01 February 2013

Objective: The neurotrophine “brain derived neurotrophic factor” (BDNF) which is expressed in the brain is responsible for neuronal survive and functioning also plays a role in pathophysiology of alcohol dependence that show multifactorial and polygenic heredity. In the current study, we aimed to identify whether the functional Val66Met [G196A; (rs6265)] polymorphism in BDNF gene has effect upon tendency to alcoholism in Turkish male and female alcohol dependent cases. Methods: Genotype distribution and allele frequency of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism was identified via PCR-RFLP (Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) method in 110 alcoholic cases (10 female, 100 male) and 376 healthy subjects (148 female, 228 male) constituting our study and control groups, statistical analyses were revealed by chi-square and ANOVA tests. Results: The distribution of the mutant AA genotype was 3.6% to 1.6% and frequency of the A allele was 16.0% to 15.0% in the study group when compared to control group. Our results didn’t show any significant differences in genotype distribution and allele frequencies of polymorphism neither between the study and control groups nor between female case and female controls and male alcoholics and male controls. The power of the study for genotype analysis was set at 80.2%. Conclusion: These results indicate that the polymorphic A allele of BDNF gene is not related with alcoholism in Turkish subjects. But since AA genotyped male subjects’ starting ages of alcohol usage and pathological drinking were detected to be earlier among other genotypes, this gave rise to a conclusion that BDNF polymorphism might be important in the alcoholism phenotype. [Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2013; 14(1.000): 1-9]

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